Around the Grounds

[perverse]

Halfback is a worry but Hopwood looks a great prospect. Maybe he can be the middle we are all looking for.

In 5 years Cody Hopwood will still only be 24 years of age. He's a prospect and will see first grade within the next 12 months or so (probably)... but he's a long, long way off maturing into the finished product.

 

[aqua_duck]

Hopwood looks an incredible prospect tbh. Still needs to fill out too. Looks like he could be the best junior we’ve had come through in a long time. Helps he plays a position we need too.

Votano’s very classy. I have some small concerns regarding his athleticism for the NRL, hopefully another off season will help.

His athleticism is fine, he’s a big body, has decent speed and can get up to contest kicks, not sure where you see his athletic limitations.
I think the issue for him is finding a position, with Ponga and Sharpe here I don’t think he’ll get a fullback gig, I’d be giving him some time in the centres in nsw cup

 

[Yosh]

In 5 years Cody Hopwood will still only be 24 years of age. He's a prospect and will see first grade within the next 12 months or so (probably)... but he's a long, long way off maturing into the finished product.

He looks big enough to playing some first grade soon.

 

[perverse]

He looks big enough to playing some first grade soon.

I think the main indicator of how far off the club thinks he is is that even in the most dire of prop shortages we've had this year, he still hasn't managed to find his way into the team. And that's not a knock on him, he's just really young. He could play Flegg for another year or two at least but we've already got him up a grade seasoning him against bigger bodies already.

The thing is there's a very wide gap between first grade and cup as far as being a middle goes. The NRL is insanely physical and fast compared to any other Rugby League. Maybe he will be capable of a serviceable 15-20 minutes off the bench by the end of the year, I dunno. An NRL middles' body isn't built overnight, or even in a single year/off season. Turning kids into NRL players is like tempering steel - especially for a prop. I'm not expecting anything out of him this year except for *maybe* getting a small run towards the end of the season if an injury opportunity presents itself - just to give him a taste of what the NRL is like and where he needs to get to. Maybe he'll see a bit more bench time next year if he keeps kicking on. I wouldn't expect more from him than that.

And that's not to say he's not brimming with potential, it's just to say he's 19 and the NRL is really, really hard. If we have him delivering regular minutes from the bench by the end of next year we've probably done well to accelerate his development even.

 

[slotmachine]

Hopwood is a 2027 proposition at the earliest imo.

His last game in Cup he started at prop, played 38 minutes and had 5 runs for 35m. Someone like Brodie Jones is good for 150m+ a game at that level.

 

[Woody90]

Hopwood is a 2027 proposition at the earliest imo.

His last game in Cup he started at prop, played 38 minutes and had 5 runs for 35m. Someone like Brodie Jones is good for 150m+ a game at that level.

Yeah he still needs to fill out a lot and a couple more nrl pre seasons. Huge potential though. Seems to enjoy ball playing and an offload.

 

[Woody90]

His athleticism is fine, he’s a big body, has decent speed and can get up to contest kicks, not sure where you see his athletic limitations.
I think the issue for him is finding a position, with Ponga and Sharpe here I don’t think he’ll get a fullback gig, I’d be giving him some time in the centres in nsw cup

Like I said, they’re only small concerns. I’ve just seen him get smashed a lot and struggle a bit for speed since coming into NSW cup…but also he’s only 18 playing against men which needs to be put into perspective I guess.

 

[macavity]

Like I said, they’re only small concerns. I’ve just seen him get smashed a lot and struggle a bit for speed since coming into NSW cup…but also he’s only 18 playing against men which needs to be put into perspective I guess.

I think we see the absolute freaks come through built at 18 and forget that for almost everyone (especially non-poly kids) there is a HUGE difference between an 18yo body and a 22yo body.

 

[aqua_duck]

Like I said, they’re only small concerns. I’ve just seen him get smashed a lot and struggle a bit for speed since coming into NSW cup…but also he’s only 18 playing against men which needs to be put into perspective I guess.

I think this is the issue with a lot of people in that the expect 18-19 year old kids to be able to physically match it with grown men, many of whom have played NRL and/or have done several NRL pre seasons.
This is the exact thing that happened to Jacob Kiraz when he was playing NSW cup as a teenager also and the two of them have similar builds.
What also doesn’t help is we throw our kids into a nsw cup team that has not had much success in years so that also doesn’t help

 

[Knight Tales]

Great point but on Kiraz. It answers the question about why we did not see his talent back then. AOB is many things, but gleefully ignorant of whether a player is FG ready is not one of them. I’d argue that is his strongest suit. He knows how to get them ready for FG. The two Fletchers being a case in point.
So this brings us back to the great conundrum about Adam’s future here. I’d say he won’t be kept on. But he has laid the foundations for the next coach to thrive. But if he does land young Da Silva at hooker everything could change next season in attack. He offers serious threat. Might change our entire attack structure. Crossland is not the answer at 9. Brilliant defender. Should be a lock for life.

 

[Woody90]

A big issue is that while a lot of players aren’t physically ready at 18/19, they still want to be in the top grade, especially when they see some of their peers, who may have different physical attributes, progressing to that level. The days of young players being happy sitting in the lower grades biding their time appear to be becoming rarer. Makes recruitment and retention difficult when you have other clubs sniffing around 18 year old kids who won’t be in a position to show what they can really do until a few years down the track.

 

[perverse]

A big issue is that while a lot of players aren’t physically ready at 18/19, they still want to be in the top grade, especially when they see some of their peers, who may have different physical attributes, progressing to that level. The days of young players being happy sitting in the lower grades biding their time appear to be becoming rarer. Makes recruitment and retention difficult when you have other clubs sniffing around 18 year old kids who won’t be in a position to show what they can really do until a few years down the track.

Oh kids will do it at successful clubs where they feel like they can develop under good mentorship. Look at Pezet. He'd bide his time playing tiddlywinks if it meant he steered clear of our club.

 

[aqua_duck]

A big issue is that while a lot of players aren’t physically ready at 18/19, they still want to be in the top grade, especially when they see some of their peers, who may have different physical attributes, progressing to that level. The days of young players being happy sitting in the lower grades biding their time appear to be becoming rarer. Makes recruitment and retention difficult when you have other clubs sniffing around 18 year old kids who won’t be in a position to show what they can really do until a few years down the track.

All the best youngsters these days are get their contracts structured in a way where they go from say junior to development to First grade year on year, doesn’t mean they need to be picked. I think you’ll find many might be given a crack somewhat prematurely especially by struggling teams just for the sake of change but often get dropped back to lower grades.
For me I think the difference in standard from Flegg/SG Ball to NSW cup is so vast you’re better off having your best 18-19 year olds taking their licks in nsw cup.

 

[Woody90]

We’re obviously horrible in attack (most weeks) but man I don’t think I could cope if we constantly leaked heaps of points like some teams are. The Cowboys are going to have 50+’d twice in a row.

 

[Knight Tales]

Smart player managers play the long game.

 

[alexwilliams_66692007]

Cowboys are next level bad

 

[Apey]

Stats

The official NRL stats of the National Rugby League, NRL and NRLW player statistics, as well as NRL and NRLW competition statistics.

www.nrl.com

Stats a bit misleading with us having only had 1 bye along with 4 other teams and some teams have had 3.

Takeaways
- Thank f**k we scored 26 points this weekend because we'd have to be trending to be one of the worst teams with the ball in hand of the NRL era. We make a ton of metres but have the worst attack by far
- It was already obvious what is/was losing us games, a ton of errors forcing us to make way more tackles than we should be making and tiring out our otherwise excellent defence.
- Haven't posted the individual stats but we have 6 players in the top 30 for individual handling errors - all backline players, shout out to Fletcher Hunt with 16 from 5 games lol
- Our defence is one of the best of the league and would probably be #1 if we didn't put ourselves under so much pressure with all our errors. We rank high in total missed and ineffective tackles but that is because we've made 500 more tackles than the second placed team.
- Would like to see some possession location stats if there's any available, i.e a breakdown of where we have our possession

Stats
17th in Points scored (46 less than next team on same number of games played)
17th in Tries scored (8 less than next team on same number of games played)
17th in Possession % (though the range is only 48 - 53%)
17th in Set completion % (74 - 83%)

3rd in All runs
2nd in Total run metres (by ~350)
2nd Post contact metres (by 16)
2nd in Tackle breaks (by 5)
5th Kick return metres
4th Offloads
11th in Linebreaks (69, range 50 - 84)

1st in Errors (201, next 183)
1st in Handling errors (176, next 159)

1st in Tackles made (500 more than the next team with the same number of games played)
2nd highest ineffective tackles (290, 1st 289)
4th highest missed tackles

4th in Penalties conceded (83, max 89)

 

[Yosh]

Looks promising. If we can get our attack to click we start putting on 4 tries a game we definitely deserve to be top eight this year. Wish we continue to challenge bombs and promote the ball anywhere on the field! Good to see Best and Dom back also!

 

[Knight Tales]

Those stats tell you just how fit this team is. Cos many sides would get lapped every week. There is a genuine commitment to their defence structures and that is huge credit to AOB and his staff.

The attack fixes will only persist if their defence remains sound as it is right now. This Friday we will know where we are at. J Saf and Frizz up front will be big. J Saf will be eyeing off that bench spot for Game 3. All the ex Knights in Canberra’s team. Massive game.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Stats

The official NRL stats of the National Rugby League, NRL and NRLW player statistics, as well as NRL and NRLW competition statistics.

www.nrl.com

Stats a bit misleading with us having only had 1 bye along with 4 other teams and some teams have had 3.

Takeaways
- Thank f**k we scored 26 points this weekend because we'd have to be trending to be one of the worst teams with the ball in hand of the NRL era. We make a ton of metres but have the worst attack by far
- It was already obvious what is/was losing us games, a ton of errors forcing us to make way more tackles than we should be making and tiring out our otherwise excellent defence.
- Haven't posted the individual stats but we have 6 players in the top 30 for individual handling errors - all backline players, shout out to Fletcher Hunt with 16 from 5 games lol
- Our defence is one of the best of the league and would probably be #1 if we didn't put ourselves under so much pressure with all our errors. We rank high in total missed and ineffective tackles but that is because we've made 500 more tackles than the second placed team.
- Would like to see some possession location stats if there's any available, i.e a breakdown of where we have our possession

Stats
17th in Points scored (46 less than next team on same number of games played)
17th in Tries scored (8 less than next team on same number of games played)
17th in Possession % (though the range is only 48 - 53%)
17th in Set completion % (74 - 83%)

3rd in All runs
2nd in Total run metres (by ~350)
2nd Post contact metres (by 16)
2nd in Tackle breaks (by 5)
5th Kick return metres
4th Offloads
11th in Linebreaks (69, range 50 - 84)

1st in Errors (201, next 183)
1st in Handling errors (176, next 159)

1st in Tackles made (500 more than the next team with the same number of games played)
2nd highest ineffective tackles (290, 1st 289)
4th highest missed tackles

4th in Penalties conceded (83, max 89)

Haha go team!